Ah, the dominoes are starting to fall: If Agoraphobic Nosebleed are going to play a show, the related Pig Destroyer are going to play two. The grinders now have dates on the horizon, December 19 in Boston and December 20 in Philadelphia, with the possibility of more on the way. Relapse Records will also be pressing Mass & Volume for the first time which was released digitally last year. The wax will hit the streets on October 14.

And if Pig Destroyer are gearing up, baseball grinders Puig Destroyer are getting ready for the postseason. The band featuring members from Thrice, Curl Up and Die, and Kowloon Walled City have signed to No Sleep Records and will release a new self-titled album digitally on September 30. Attention teams that aren't the Red Sox: It'll probably be cheaper than Rusney Castillo. You can check out the track "Mike Trout" below.

Speaking of new releases, we now have a cover for At the Gates' At War With Reality. It's a silhouette illusion you can use for self-diagnosis: See two hands? Go to the doctor. See two men smoking? Go to the doctor. Seriously: that's not a pimple. Go to the doctor. Check it out below.

In other visual teases, Today Is The Day have offered up a trailer for the seriously heavy Animal Mother. The album will be out on October 14 via Southern Lord Records. And if you don't mind taking a shower in two minutes, Animal Mother's pitch-perfect movie accompaniment can be viewed below.

October 14 is also the date of release for blackened sludgesters Inter Arma's The Cavern, a single track 40 minute EP coming out courtesy of Relapse. You can watch a trailer for that below.

A trailer triumvirate, you say? Why not. The MDF-bound/DTA-joiningObituary also have samples rolling on YouTube for the forthcoming Inked In Blood. That one is also coming out through Relapse on October 28. Check it out below. . . and marvel at Relapse's productivity. And then feel bad about your comparative slothfulness. Seriously: get off the couch and go to the doctor.

Another icon had an announcement this week: With Brutal Truth done, Dan Lilker will have time for other endeavors, including thrashers Nuclear Assault who may cut a new album and tour in the near future. Lilker will also be working on Nokturnal Hellstorm, Blurring, and Venomous Concept. Retired Dan Lilker, taking it easy.

Finally, if you're going to do something right, you might as well do it yourself. That's the rationale behind tech-deathers Defeated Sanity's next split. . . with themselves. "YES, we will record a SPLIT album with ourselves!!" the band said through a statement. "One side will be the most brutal, more simple, more caveman Brutal Death that we ever made - but don't worry it will NOT be boring!! The other side will be everything else. Technical, oldschool, progressive - just like we love to hear it from our old Prog Thrash&Death heros [sic] but of course we do it in our own way!" Do you, Defeated Sanity. Always do you.

Opeth

Now that you're, ahem, fully briefed, let's recap all of the A/V transmissions.

If you were wondering if the streams dried up, this week was a flood. First, here are the full albums: The soon-to-be-touringOpeth unveiled Pale Communion (August 26, Roadrunner Records - preorder). . . on a Euro-only site. Argh, so close! As for things readily available, Midnight dropped No Mercy for Mayhem on the Hells Headbangers bandcamp. Solstafir showcased all of Ótta (September 2, Season of Mist - preorder). And Principality Of Hell offered up the venomous Fire & Brimstone. (Note: Invisible Oranges interviewed both Opeth and Solstafir frontmen recently if you want to know more.) All streams appear below.

As for the singles, we got a taste of Death Penalty's self-titled LP debut (September 16, Rise Above Records - preorder). You can also check out an interview with Rise Above head Lee Dorrian at Invisible Oranges. A music video for Uncle Acid and the Deadbeat's "Runaway Girls" has been made available. Uncle Acid are cycling through North America in September. Lo-Pan, who are hitting the road with Black Cobra and will play an Invisible Oranges-presented show, tossed out a track from Colossus (October 7, Small Stone - preorder). In addition, Small Stone was flooded earlier in the month and you can help out. Witch Mountain showed off another from singer Uta Plotkin's farewell, Mobile Of Angels (October 6, Profound Lore). Classic gore-hounds Necrophagia are back with the first transmission from WhiteWorm Cathedral (October 28, Season of Mist - preorder). And death metallers Lago have dropped a cut from Tyranny (September 16, Battleground Records). Check out all the songs below.

Got it? Good. To shows we go:

TODAY (FRIDAY, 8/23): The speedy and now-signedBat, Chainbreaker, and Iron Force step into the Acheron (tickets). Meanwhile, Europa has a blast of old-school punk with Off!, Bad Antics, and Gay Kiss (tickets).

SATURDAY (8/24): At Red Hook's Pioneer Works, the suddenly touringLiturgy, Wreck and Reference, White Suns, and Kyle Eyre Clyd will play a matinee (tickets). That should leave you enough time to either get your shred on at Saint Vitus with Earthless, The Shrine, and Mirror Queen (tickets). Or to go punk with Vile Intent, NARC, and Limbs Bin at the Acheron (tickets).

SUNDAY (8/24): Jorge Elbrecht's new band Coral Cross (who just made their live debut earlier this week, play a late-night set.

Dan Lilker is far and away one of the most important bassists in metal history; from his early-'80s thrash and grind work in Anthrax, Exit-13 and S.O.D. to his going concerns in Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault and Venomous Concept, he's routinely been a step ahead of the rest of the scene. He's also served as a live utility player for several notable bands, including Autopsy, Dark Angel, Lock Up, and (weirdly) Soulfly.

Sadly, we will be seeing a lot less of both Lilker and Brutal Truth in the coming years. According to a message on Brutal Truth's Facebook, Lilker is retiring from active touring on October 18th, which is his 50th birthday. Brutal Truth will tour actively until then and then throw in the towel as well. Lilker will be remain active in his Rochester non-touring acts Blurring (which features several members of the underrated deathgrind band Kalibas, including one-time Brutal Truth guitarist Erik Burke on drums) and Nokturnal Hellstorm.

Bittersweet news. While it's always sad when influential legends like Lilker and Brutal Truth hang up their...um...van-driving gloves, both entities have given plenty to the metal world over their lengthy tours of duty. They deserve their rest.

Always something up their sleeve, Saint Vitus has rolled out another set of bangers for the new year. We already discussed shows with Torche, Deafheaven/Sannhet, Yob and Woe, but here's a few more shows to help wipe away your paycheck.

Vektor will expertly unleash their razor-sharp progressive thrash on the crowds at Saint Vitus on a special Valentines Day (2/14), when they team with Behold... the Arctopus for a show at the venue. Tickets are on sale. The show is one of only a few dates scheduled for the now-Philadelphia thrash crew, check out all other dates below.

Brutal Truth, Total Fucking Destruction, Psychic Limb and one band still TBA will play Saint Vitus on March 16. Tickets are on sale. The dates are the only shows scheduled for all three presently.

Crossover thrash legends DRI will hit the road for a string of dates in February, touring the US and eventually making it to Saint Vitus on 2/26. Tickets are on sale, and the full slate of dates is below.

Despite being the brainchild of Bill Kelliher of Mastodon and Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth, Atlanta's Primate is something entirely different than than you might expect the sum of its parts to be. Drawing from everything from grindcore to d-beat and even Black Flag, the band's recent Draw Back a Stump is a fascinating departure from these metallic veterans.

Primate is preparing to re-release 2011's Draw Back a Stump via Relapse Records on July 3rd (preorder it). The re-issue will feature bonus tracks in addition to the previous material, all of which you can stream for the first time below. So far no dates to speak of for this grind crew, but we'll let you know if that changes.

With this statement, Sweden's Nasum (who we recently interviewed) opened their set at Europa on Thursday night (May 24th). The band, who have spent 2012 on a "farewell" tour (which also included Maryland Deathfest the next day), appeared in high spirits during their set, grinning, raising fists, and playing with childlike exuberance that only served to intensify their aural assault. In a refreshing change of pace from many active grind bands today, they approached their fans lightheartedly and graciously, caring little for the pretense of a hardened image.

Grudges, Magrudergrind, Dropdead and Brutal Truth were there as well, bolstering an already very rare experience, keeping the night consistent but never tiresome. Likewise, fans were equal parts diverse and enthusiastic; those keeping the pit raging from start to finish ranged from a guy in a yarmulke to a group of people shouting in Japanese.

The gritty affair started punctually and with gusto thanks to NYC locals Grudges who stirred the pit up early with death grunts and a fast, hardcore-infused set. Without a moment to recover, Magrudgergrind cranked it up more than a few notches and shattered the room wide open, turning nearly the entirety of Europa into one gaping swarm of flying bodies and stomping feet.

Brutal Truth followed Dropdead's vitriolic set (with no shortage of social critique, which is par for the course) like a kid brother, distinctly mischievous and tongue-in-cheek throughout. They set the rest of the night on a spirited trajectory that Nasum carried through to the finish. But make no mistake: jokes, laughter, or lack thereof, all bands brought their A games to Europa on Thursday, and their A games were, in a handful of words, fast and heavy as fuck.

We are proud to announce our sponsorship of the full batch of Nasum US dates. Mieszko will be sorely missed, but we hope this will be a fitting tribute to his legacy. As discussed, the tour hits Europa on May 24th with Brutal Truth, Dropdead, Magrudergrind, and Grudges (tickets) and includes dates at MDF and Chaos in Tejas. Full tour schedule, and tour flyer is below...

Speaking of Brutal Truth, Danny Lilker is currently on tour with Lock Up (playing bass instead of Shane Embury of Napalm Death!) and the band hits NYC Thursday at Europa (2/16). Tickets are still available.

Mastodon have released another video from their upcoming LP The Hunter (due on September 27th). The new video, for "Spectrelight", features Scott Kelly from Neurosis, and follows recent video releases of "Curl of The Burl" and "Black Tongue". All of them are viewable below.

So far no word on a US tour from the Atlanta four-piece, though knowing them a massive one will surely follow. The band has only one current tour date scheduled, 10/26 at the Verizon Theatre in Dallas, TX with Soundgarden. Neurosis, also with just one upcoming date, play this weekend in Portland as part of MusicFestNW. Their show is at Roseland Theater on Saturday with Grails, YOB and Akimbo. Tickets are still available for those without festival passes. The entire MusicFestNW begins Wednesday. Check out the schedule HERE.

In other news, Relapse recently signed Primate, a band featuring Bill Kelliher of Mastodon, Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth, and Mike Brennan of Javelina among others. No word on when they will follow-up on their Draw Back A Stump EP from earliser this year, but we'll keep you up to date. In the meantime, Brutal Truth are releasing a new LP via Relapse; look for End Time on 9/27. Stream two new songs at their Facebook.

Dan Lilker and Kevin Sharp just played Europa with Brutal Truth. Now the grind band has scheduled a new show with Venomous Concept, their side project with Shane Embury and Danny Herrera of Napalm Death. Europa gets the look on September 23rd, tickets are on sale. The show is the lone US date thus far, with a string of dates in Japan currently on tap for the weeks prior. So far, no word on the upcoming Wolfbrigade and Bruce Banner splits or the upcoming album the the band discussed late last year.

Just a few weeks before that Europa will also play host to Japanese hardcore badasses Systematic Death, who will take the stage with the mighty Dropdead (!) for a show at Europa on September 18th. Tickets are on sale. The show is so far the lone date for Systematic Death, though Dropdead has a local show at AS220 in their native Providence, RI on 8/14.

And while we're on the subject of Japanese hardcore, A.G.E. are scheduled to tear down Knitting Factory with the freight train known as Hellshock (!) with support from Parasytic, Cervix, Perdition. The show goes down on devil's night (Oct 30th, how appropo) and tickets are on sale. Hellshock's They Wait For You Still dropped in the tail end of last year. Again, no other US dates for A.G.E. so far.

It'd be easy to mistake the Eyehategod/Brutal Truth/Nachtmystium/Black Anvil/Tombs throw down as a full on assault on the audience. And while in a sense it was, to the metal fans in attendance, it was a more of a big party. Songs like "Sister Fucker", "High on Hate", and "Filled With Secrets" don't outwardly point to a celebratory vibe, but in the context of that show, beers were hoisted and invisible oranges were raised.

Tombs kicked off the evening at a ridiculously early 6PM with a set that seemed to be filled with new tunes making full use of their new guitarist. It was my first experience with Tombs as a four piece, and the addition definitely adds a fuller sound.

Black Anvil followed with a set that also relied heavily on newer material from their upcoming Triumvirate. The band's relative cooling to the the live stage in 2010 (to write and record mostly) meant a heaping dose of brutality... of course then again, maybe it's the whole "don't know what you've got, til it's gone" factor. (I missed their set opening for Immortal, and only caught them briefly at Scion Rock Fest)

Nachtmystium was up next, and aside from brainchild Blake Judd, the band was sporting a wholly new lineup made up of members of Lord Mantis and a new guitar player (Jeff Wilson recently left the band). Their set contained little of the controversial elements from their new LP Addicts (meaning, no keyboards, overly-compressed snares, etc) and instead concentrated on the melodic black metal blasting. "High on Hate" from the new LP sound particularly impressive live.

Brutal Truth followed, pulling from across their groovy grind catalogue, as barefooted vocalist Kevin Sharp barked out vocals at the crowd. Their set was good, but I found my eyes glued to drummer Richard Hoek for almost the entire set. Hoek is infinitely watchable/listenable, as he alternates between precision blasting, goofy faces, and making ridiculous remarks at the crowd.

After all that lightning-quick pummel, it was nice to have Eyehategod on stage to take it nice and slow. The band pulled out all of the classics for their shortened set (a shade over an hour), and whipped the crowd into a fever pitch. Pit action, stage dives, and sing-alongs were a-plenty, and the band seemed genuinely more excited to be in Brooklyn than they were just seven months prior. Incredible set.

More Eyehategod dates HERE. Tons of pics, and some videos from the Brooklyn show, below...

Of all of the above touring bands, only Nachtmystium have a freshly minted album under their wings (Black Anvil's Triumvirate impacts on 9/28). The followup to the critical/fan smash Assassins: Black Meddle, the highly controversial LP Addicts: Black Meddle Part II, is out now via Century Media. Check out a few tracks from that LP available for download above.

In an recent interview that I did for Metalsucks, Blake Judd of Nachtmystium revealed that the Twilight project (featuring Aaron Turner of Isis, Sanford Parker of Minsk, N. Imperial of Kreig, Wrest of Leviathan, and Stavros Giannopolous of The Atlas Moth) was working on new material and might have a new member:

There are talks that somebody from Sonic Youth might be playing with us as well. Sanford's [Parker] partner is Jeremy Lemos. He's Sonic Youth's sound technician live. So we're pretty closely connected to them through him. Thurston Moore is a big black metal fan, so we've been in talks with him about getting him involved and doing something on the next record, which we're all really hoping will happen.

We'll see if that formulates. In the meantime, Nachmystium fans can nerd out by picking up the "White Powder not White Power" shirt via Shirts & Destroy (designed by Autarch of Lightning Swords Of Death).

SXSW was a blast, but days before that the Scion Rock Fest shook the college town of Columbus, Ohio (March 13th) with it's mix of metal gods of the past (DRI, Cannibal Corpse, Voivod, Shrinebuilder, etc) and killers of today (Ludicra, Landmine Marathon, Yob, Thou, etc). The one-day fest was spread throughout four of the town's venue, meaning any one person could only see a limited amount of the full lineup. Luckily I went to Columbus with my own camera, two other photographers (Jessie Barber and Christopher Mumma), and crossed paths with writer Kim Kelly along the way. If there is a metal show worth a damn within hundreds (thousands?) of miles from Kim, she'll be there. Her version of the story along with half of the pictures from the day (the rest HERE), below...

Now, BrooklynVegan and Osiris are proud to announce another unmissable lineup: Eyehategod with Brutal Truth, Nachtmystium, Black Anvil, and Tombs at Europa on June 12th! Ticket info is forthcoming, as well as their full US tour sked. Meanwhile, EHG is also scheduled to play Emo's in Austin on May 7th to perform all of In The Name of Suffering and Take As Needed For Pain. Drool.

Atlanta no more! Scion Rock Fest 2010 will take place in Columbus, Ohio on March 13, 2010. The show will officially expand its reach from one to FOUR venues in Columbus: Circus, Newport Music Hall, Skully's, and Bernie's Distillery. 2010's lineup contains zero return bands from the 2009 festival but does contain sets from bands that released my favorite albums of last year (namely Magrudergrind, Yob, Absu) and played my favorite shows of last year (Lightning Swords of Death, Landmine Marathon, Trap Them, Black Tusk, Ludicra) in addition to sets from headliners Cannibal Corpse, Voivod, Shrinebuilder, Brutal Truth.

Municipal Waste ends their tour in their hometown of Richmond on Friday (12/11), and after a month away from the road, hop on a flight to Europe to continue the madness. Brutal Truth also has exotic locales in their sights; after Richmond, the triumphant and reunited band hits Japan for a set of dates starting on 12/15, but will be back in time for Dan Lilker to join up with Crucifist for some January dates on the east coast. Phobia carries on from Richmond into the south before ending the tour in Texas.

Full tour dates for all bands, as well as some videos with the rest of the pictures (and some setlists), below...

Cauldron recently dropped their debut album, Chained To The Nite, on Earache. Dig on "Conjuring The Mass" above. The band is on board for a select set of dates with MW. This past Sunday's Toronto show (12/6) served as the setting for an upcoming live DVD for the Canucks. More on that DVD soon.

Blacklisted recently surprised us all by releasing No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me on ZERO notice, a digital and vinyl only release via Deathwish Inc. The album follows their monumental Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God which dropped in 2008 on the label. Pick the new record up here.

They say that the clothes make the man, but in the music world, the drummer makes the band. That's the only way to explain the string of successes that have followed Dave Witte since he first sat behind the kit as a member of the influential yet under-appreciated Human Remains. Since then, Witte has played with some of the greatest bands in the heavy underground, laying the back beat to names as powerful as Municipal Waste, Discordance Axis, Anodyne, Black Army Jacket, Melt Banana, and we can't forget about Burnt By The Sun.

Burnt By The Sun recently released their swansong, Heart of Darkness, via Relapse Records. In celebration of this last LP, the band will embark on final tour of Europe in October with only one US date scheduled: October 2nd at Cake Shop with Tombs, Black Anvil, Bloodhorse, and Torchbearer. Considering the band members' current undertakings, it isn't out the question to say that this could be their last show for a very very long time.

With that as a primer, I fired some questions at Dave Witte about Municipal Waste, the end of Burnt By The Sun, and the possiblity of him returning to the kit for Human Remains, Discordance Axis or Black Army Jacket. The conversation is below....

"We went mainly to see Repulsion, a seminal grindcore band from Flint, Michigan, who opened the show. Before setting on their current moniker they called themselves "Ultraviolence" and then "Genocide", which lends some insight into the group's aesthetic. Song titles include "Splattered Cadavers", "Pestilent Decay" and "Maggots in Your Coffin", and lyrics concentrate on fear, outrage and death. The crowd that gathered to see Repulsion at the Temple was 98% male and 90% under the age of 30. More than half boasted shoulder-length hair (or longer); nearly everyone wore a black T-shirt." [More Intelligent Life]

Repulsion, Brutal Truth, and Pig Destroyer added a little filth and decay to an already waterlogged Brooklyn on 7/31 at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. It was Repulsion's first NYC show EVER. The teaming also doubled as a release party for Decibel's Precious Metal book, which showcases Repulsion's Decibel Hall Of Fame comp LP/classic Horrified as its centerpiece.

The show will double as a book release party for Decibel's new book Precious Metal, which compiles 25 of their favorite "Hall Of Fame" LPs like Slayer's Reign in Blood, Napalm Death's Scum, Eyehategod's Take as Needed for Pain, Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger, Sleep's Jerusalem, The Dillinger Escape Plan's Calculating Infinity as well as the centerpiece for July 31st, Repulsion's Horrifed (Brutal Truth's Need To Control was also a Hall of Fame recipient, but didn't make the book). Decibel will also release a special "Decibill" at the show featuring pieces on all three bands by Decibel greats J. Bennett and Jess Blumensheld (cover of that is below).

In celebration of this momentous show, we asked Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth), JR Hayes (Pig Destroyer) and Col Jones (Repulsion) to discuss one of the other bands on the bill, what they mean to them and extreme music. Their thoughts are below... a must read!

Though the rain is mostly gone, it's still a doomy gloomy day here at Week In Metal, where we kick things off with Fall of Efrafa, who have dropped their FINAL album of thundering post-hardcore sludge on Denovali. It's called INLÉ and takes inspiration from an extremely unlikely source, the book Watership Down. The final in a trilogy of LPs that also included OWSLA and ELIL, INLÉ is available for FREE download above of for purchase via Denovali or Sound Devastation.

Roadburn has announced that 2010's Roadburn event will be partly curated by none other than Tom Warrior of Celtic Frost/Hellhammer/Triptykon fame! His new band Triptykon will headline Only Death Is Real, the Friday 4/16/10 event, and Tom will choose an additional 16 bands for the festival! Stokeage. More info is to come.

San Francisco's Flood, who take a line or two from the great Khanate with their low & slow doomy funeral marches, recently dropped their new LP Native on the esteemed MeteorCity (get that here). Check out a track from that massive LP, "Aphelion", which is downloadable above. Flood currently has no plans to head out east, but here's for hoping!

It was recorded in Brooklyn by Shane and mixed by Mike Davidson and Brian Hill. Its 4 songs including "Nod" which was previously released on a split with Sourvein. The 3 other tunes are "Paintake","Breed" and "Mainline". "Mainline" got redone by the At A Loss lineup, but is actually a good bit different... with the original lineup of Brian Hill on bass, Ash Lee on drums, ...and this is the only recording with Johhny Brito on gtr. [Also look for] ...Pat Vigil now in Watch Them Die doing 2nd vocal on "Breed"!!

Lots of ground to cover, since we missed ya last week, so lets get right to it with the mighty Minsk! The Chicagoan's new album With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone is out now, and it definitely delivers on the promises of The Ritual Fires of Abandonment. Highly recommended, as evidenced by the monstrosity "Three Moons" available for download above!

At The Charleston on 5/29, I managed to catch the pummeling Magrudergrind along with the equally awesome powerviolence of The Endless Blockade. The pair are touring surrounding their MDF appearance, and while TEB doesn't have a new album out, Magrudergrind DOES; a self-titled LP available now via Willowtip! Cop that here, and cop a pair of songs from the record above!

Also up at Willowtip, the new LPs by Defeatist and Afgrund! The new Defeatist LP, Sharp Blade Sinks Deep Into Dull Minds, is actually a compilation of previous EPs and other releases, but definitely provides a good preview as to what these grinders are about before their new LP drops (soon). Meanwhile Afgrund's new LP, Vid Helvetets Grindar, is also on preorder. Check out the band's deathgrind-y groove on tracks like "Klinisk Digital Kyla", "Borja Fran Noll", both downloadable above.

Ancestors have completed recording their follow-up to last year's Neptune With Fire. Featuring four songs, and three interludes, I had a chance to preview a few tracks which are definitely as epic as their previous material, and just as compelling. Look for Sera Timms from Black Math Horseman and David Scott Stone to make an apperance on the as-yet untitled LP, and look for more news very soon!

A member of Pelican and a member of Tombs have agreed to a "bro tat" commemorating their current tour together. So what you say? YOU can decide what it is! Pictures from their recent show together at Irving Plaza are HERE in case you missed them.

Iron Age and Sex Vid are in town this weekend. More info, dates, and an MP3 from Iron Age's Tee Pee Records debut, HERE.

Black Pyramid has released their new self-titled LP on the doom stable Meteor City Records. While vocalist Andy Beresky comes off sounding like J.D. Cronise at times (NOT a bad thing), these Massachusetts boys definitely are in a whole different category than The Sword. With an ability to balance their bombastic blues riffs with stylistic touches of the greats (ie Electric Wizard, Sleep, Pentagram, etc) without sounding derivative, check out a video for Black Pyramid's "And The Gods Made War/Visions of Gehenna" below and download "Visions of Gehenna" above! Full BP tour dates are below, including their appearance at the Stoner Hands Of Doom Festival.

That video and Thou, Indian, Ulver, Brutal Truth, Wolves In The Throne Room, Municipal Waste, and Narrows as This Week In Metal Continues...